Page 55 of The Fearless Miss Dinah

Chapter Nineteen

Dinah held him for a long time. Long enough that the sun started to slip down in the sky and the house cast a long shadow over the lawn.

Clearly, he still had a large hole in his heart over what his mother had done. She could only imagine the type of pain losing a parent in that way would cause. However, she also suspected that speaking of her may have helped, if only a little. Maybe if he spoke to others as well, broke through this silence everyone at Angleside insisted on, maybe he could find true healing.

“Have you told David?” she asked eventually.

“Told him what?”

“That your mother has passed.”

He tensed up at her words.

“He’s her son too. Doesn’t he have a right to know?”

Henry’s jaw tightened so much, Dinah could have sworn she heard his teeth grinding. “We don’t talk about her.”

No, they didn’t. It was as though the woman had never existed. How could they truly grieve the loss of someone they pretended had never existed? “I think you ought to tell him.”

Henry drew his arms away from her. Dinah continued to hug him until he gently took hold of her arms and pulled her away.

“You’re clearly still hurting over her decision to leave,” she said, now looking up at Henry, at his dark expression and gently wavy hair. “I think talking about it may help you. And David, too.”

“Nonsense. It’ll only open old wounds.”

But that feeling in her stomach disagreed. He needed to get things off his chest. He needed a safe place to voice his hurt.

Maybe she could convince David to open the conversation with Henry. “Then allow me to tell him,” she tried.

“Nothing doing,” he said, his voice growing hard. “I know just how much you enjoy talking about every detail of any pain or problem. But I am telling you, not a word to David or anyone.”

Was he giving her an order? Childish it may be, but she felt a small bit of stubbornness rise up inside of her. More still, couldn’t he understand that she was doing thisforhim? Forthem?

He must have seen some of what she was thinking on her face, for he pointed a finger directly at her. “I mean it, Dinah.”

She pushed the finger away, the calm heat of the closeness of before now more of an agitated fire. “I’m not one of the maids. Don’t start ordering me about.”

“This isn’t the time to run about like a chicken without a head, making snap decisions.”

“But this is eating you up, Henry. Can’t you see that? All these years of silence haven’t helped; I think it’s past time you tried talking.”

Henry threw his hands up. “And we’ve reached it at last.”

“Excuse me?”

With a hand on his hip and another rubbing his eyes, he spoke in terse tones. “The part of our relationship where you tell me all my shortcomings and all the reasons I couldn’t possibly be good enough for you.”

Had previous relationships made him feel that way? Had his mother made him feel that way? Dinah wasn’t even sure how to respond. “I’m not saying any of that. I’m saying you ought to talk to David.”

“You’re saying I should be more like you, willing to dash ahead without a plan, to act on every impulse. Now that I’ve told you about the late Lady Stanton, why not tell everyone?”

“Henry, that’s not fair. I do not rush forward at every whim.”

His tone was firm. “I won’t have you hurting my family.”

Dinah felt the words as though they left tiny cuts all along her chest.Hisfamily. One that he still didn’t consider her part of.

Dinah took a small step back, suddenly needing space between them. She swallowed hard, pushing the hurt down further. “I won’t say anything to them. Butyoustill should.”

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